IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/seejeb/v17y2022i2p125-141n10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Institutions on Economic and Environmental Performance: Evidence From Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Panteli Maria

    (PhD, Post-doctoral Researcher in Economics, Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, School of Economics and Regional Studies, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, GR-546 36, Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Delipalla Sofia

    (PhD, Professor of Economics, Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, School of Economics and Regional Studies, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece)

Abstract

Within the Environmental Kuznets Curve framework, we investigate whether the effect of institutions on environmental quality differs among the Western Balkans, the other European post-socialist states, and Western Europe. We estimate both direct and indirect effects of institutions on air pollution for each respective sub-sample and for the whole European region (45 countries during 1996-2014). The negative direct effect is greater for non-post-socialist states, compared to post-socialist ones. Regarding the indirect effect, improving the quality of economic institutions induces an increase in the scale of economic activity, leading to an increase in CO2 emissions per capita. Estimated elasticities of CO2 emissions with respect to institutions, for all sub-groups, uncover a total positive effect, which is larger for Central-eastern and South-eastern European states. Improving the quality of institutions should go hand in hand with stricter formation and implementation of policies designed to decouple economic growth from CO2 emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Panteli Maria & Delipalla Sofia, 2022. "The Impact of Institutions on Economic and Environmental Performance: Evidence From Europe," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 17(2), pages 125-141, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:seejeb:v:17:y:2022:i:2:p:125-141:n:10
    DOI: 10.2478/jeb-2022-0019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/jeb-2022-0019
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/jeb-2022-0019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liddle, Brantley, 2013. "Population, Affluence, and Environmental Impact Across Development: Evidence from Panel Cointegration Modeling," MPRA Paper 52088, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2010. "The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 404-418, May.
    3. Gordon C. McCord & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2013. "Development, Structure, and Transformation: Some Evidence on Comparative Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 19512, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    5. Tamazian, Artur & Bhaskara Rao, B., 2010. "Do economic, financial and institutional developments matter for environmental degradation? Evidence from transitional economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 137-145, January.
    6. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    7. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    8. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    9. Welsch, Heinz, 2004. "Corruption, growth, and the environment: a cross-country analysis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(5), pages 663-693, October.
    10. Muniz, Ivan & Galindo, Anna, 2005. "Urban form and the ecological footprint of commuting. The case of Barcelona," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 499-514, December.
    11. Cole, Matthew A., 2007. "Corruption, income and the environment: An empirical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 637-647, May.
    12. William Robert Reed, 2015. "On the Practice of Lagging Variables to Avoid Simultaneity," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(6), pages 897-905, December.
    13. Biswas, Amit K. & Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza & Thum, Marcel, 2012. "Pollution, shadow economy and corruption: Theory and evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 114-125.
    14. Azmat Gani, 2012. "The Relationship Between Good Governance And Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Evidence From Developing Economies," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 77-93, March.
    15. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    16. Wilson, John K. & Damania, Richard, 2005. "Corruption, political competition and environmental policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 516-535, May.
    17. Usama Al-Mulali & Ilhan Ozturk & Hooi Lean, 2015. "The influence of economic growth, urbanization, trade openness, financial development, and renewable energy on pollution in Europe," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 79(1), pages 621-644, October.
    18. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    19. Edward L. Glaeser & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "Do Institutions Cause Growth?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 271-303, September.
    20. Damania, Richard & Fredriksson, Per G. & List, John A., 2003. "Trade liberalization, corruption, and environmental policy formation: theory and evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 490-512, November.
    21. Damania, Richard, 2002. "Environmental controls with corrupt bureaucrats," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 407-427, July.
    22. Esty, Daniel C. & Porter, Michael E., 2005. "National environmental performance: an empirical analysis of policy results and determinants," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 391-434, August.
    23. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    24. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    25. Brownstone, David & Golob, Thomas F., 2009. "The impact of residential density on vehicle usage and energy consumption," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 91-98, January.
    26. Per Fredriksson & Herman Vollebergh, 2009. "Corruption, federalism, and policy formation in the OECD: the case of energy policy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 205-221, July.
    27. Goel, Rajeev K. & Herrala, Risto & Mazhar, Ummad, 2013. "Institutional quality and environmental pollution: MENA countries versus the rest of the world," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 508-521.
    28. Esty, Daniel C. & Porter, Michael E., 2005. "National environmental performance: an empirical analysis of policy results and determinants," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 381-389, August.
    29. Ebru Guven Solakoglu, 2007. "The Effect of Property Rights on the Relationship Between Economic Growth and Pollution for Transition Economies," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 77-94, February.
    30. Fredriksson, Per G. & Svensson, Jakob, 2003. "Political instability, corruption and policy formation: the case of environmental policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1383-1405, August.
    31. Laura Langbein & Stephen Knack, 2010. "The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Six, One, or None?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 350-370.
    32. Fozia Latif Gill & K Kuperan Viswanathan & Mohd Zaini Abdul Karim, 2018. "The Critical Review of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH)," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(1), pages 167-174.
    33. Charles P. Oman & Christiane Arndt, 2006. "Governance Indicators for Development," OECD Development Centre Policy Insights 33, OECD Publishing.
    34. Lopez, Ramon & Mitra, Siddhartha, 2000. "Corruption, Pollution, and the Kuznets Environment Curve," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 137-150, September.
    35. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arminen, Heli & Menegaki, Angeliki N., 2019. "Corruption, climate and the energy-environment-growth nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 621-634.
    2. Abid, Mehdi, 2016. "Impact of economic, financial, and institutional factors on CO2 emissions: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa economies," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 85-94.
    3. Halkos, George E. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2013. "Carbon dioxide emissions and governance: A nonparametric analysis for the G-20," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 110-118.
    4. Leitão, Alexandra, 2010. "Corruption and the environmental Kuznets Curve: Empirical evidence for sulfur," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2191-2201, September.
    5. Maurizio Lisciandra & Carlo Migliardo, 2017. "An Empirical Study of the Impact of Corruption on Environmental Performance: Evidence from Panel Data," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(2), pages 297-318, October.
    6. Lapatinas, Athanasios & Garas, Antonios & Boleti, Eirini & Kyriakou, Alexandra, 2019. "Economic complexity and environmental performance: Evidence from a world sample," MPRA Paper 92833, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Jeong Hwan Bae & Dmitriy D. Li & Meenakshi Rishi, 2017. "Determinants of CO emission for post-Soviet Union independent countries," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 591-615, July.
    8. Halkos, George E. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2014. "Public sector transparency and countries’ environmental performance: A nonparametric analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 19-37.
    9. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun & Apergis, Nicholas & Sharp, Basil, 2021. "Responses of carbon emissions to corruption across Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. Zhou, Mengling & Wang, Bing & Chen, Zhongfei, 2020. "Has the anti-corruption campaign decreased air pollution in China?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Cole, Matthew A., 2007. "Corruption, income and the environment: An empirical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 637-647, May.
    12. Wen-Lin Wu, 2017. "Institutional Quality and Air Pollution: International Evidence," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 16(1), pages 49-74, June.
    13. Nicolli, Francesco & Vona, Francesco, 2012. "The Evolution of Renewable Energy Policy in OECD Countries: Aggregate Indicators and Determinants," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 130897, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    14. Shouro Dasgupta & Enrica De Cian, 2016. "Institutions and the Environment: Existing Evidence and Future Directions," Working Papers 2016.41, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    15. Eleni Stathopoulou & Dimitrios Varvarigos, 2013. "Corruption, Entry and Pollution," Discussion Papers in Economics 13/21, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    16. Ashraf, Junaid, 2022. "Do political instability, financial instability and environmental degradation undermine growth? Evidence from belt and road initiative countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1113-1127.
    17. Per G. Fredriksson & Eric Neumayer, 2016. "Corruption and Climate Change Policies: Do the Bad Old Days Matter?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(2), pages 451-469, February.
    18. Marcel Probst & Caspar Sauter, 2015. "CO2 Emissions and Greenhouse Gas Policy Stringency - An Empirical Assessment," IRENE Working Papers 15-03, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    19. Lv, Zhike & Gao, Zhenya, 2021. "The effect of corruption on environmental performance: Does spatial dependence play a role?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    20. Boying Li & Yu Hao & Chun-Ping Chang, 2018. "Does an anticorruption campaign deteriorate environmental quality? Evidence from China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(1), pages 67-94, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental quality; carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions; institutional quality; corruption; economic performance; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:seejeb:v:17:y:2022:i:2:p:125-141:n:10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.